


A Strange Feeling

by kgs_wy, neosaiyanangel



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, F/M, Introspection, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kgs_wy/pseuds/kgs_wy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/neosaiyanangel/pseuds/neosaiyanangel
Summary: Things have been weird for Drakken. Acting weird. Feeling weird. Thinking weird. And tonight's date night makes things a whole lot weirder, for both himself and Kimberly. Not that Kim doesn't have her own feelings to deal with...
Relationships: Dr. Drakken/Kim Possible
Kudos: 9





	1. His POV

Nine years, seven months, three weeks, and a handful of days. That was how long Drew had known Kimberly and her best friend. He knew this because he'd taken care to memorize the day that he first met his arch-foe for when he would eventually be victorious to hang over their heads.

His chest panged in a weird flip-flop way at that thought; as he'd learned to do from experience and some practice, he shoved it aside and swallowed down the bad feeling it made in his throat, all the while telling himself that it wasn't like that anymore. What did it matter what he used to think? The mad scientist he had been was gone, replaced with...well, another mad scientist, but one that was decidedly less villain-y.

Being 'good' came with strange side effects as he'd found out rather quickly. People didn't scootch away from him on the rare occasion that he was in public. Do-gooder agents from organizations such as Global Justice stopped jumping out of bushes to try and nab him. He was occasionally stopped by random people that wanted his autograph for his work during that incident with the Lorwardians. And relationships with certain people changed.

Shego was...gone. Even that brief thought was enough to, as the blond sidekick had said once in reference to his new relationship status, 'rustle his jimmies'.

That blond guy...Ron? He now joined Drew on weekends to play Pathquestor. He was still the distraction, much to the younger man's obvious annoyance. Really, what did he expect when he created characters that specialized in illusions or stealthy shenanigans? At least Dementor varied his characters enough to fill in a variety of roles in the group!

Dementor was just as annoying as always. There was a modicum more respect in their interactions. Somehow. It would've taken some fancy scanning electron microscopy to measure it, and even then Drew felt that it would appear as a thin, flat thread that lacked substance. It was there all the same at least, which was better than what he could say about the rest of the villain community. As for the hero community and the goody two-shoes groups, they were receiving him better than he had thought they would.

Betty had made some rather, er, forward offers, but he knew better than to get involved with _that_ hornet's nest. Goodness knows that he'd heard Gemini grumble about killing any suitors enough to dissuade any thoughts of that kind. Otherwise Drew's interactions with the more savory characters and groups were less forward and more welcoming. Well, save for some of the more scientific groups who _still_ claimed that mad science wasn't science. But at least he could talk (and occasionally yell) with them on the points.

James and himself were on better speaking terms. He still found James' insistence on canonical shipping in their shared science fiction interests annoying to the point of heated arguments. Other than that, they could at least be in the same room without barbs being thrown back and forth. Which was good, since he and Kimberly...

Drew glanced down briefly to look at the tuft of red hair laying against his chest. The changes in his and Kimberly's relationship had been gradual and, if he was honest with himself, a touch awkward. Hatred had cooled to annoyance in that last year of her secondary schooling. Annoyance had turned to tolerance with their continued contact from the fallout from the Lorwardian incident. Tolerance turned to a strange mixture of understanding and curiosity as they continued to rub elbows from their mutual acquaintances. And that...well...

He stroked her along her side, his hand dragging the material of her shirt a bit, knowing after far more trial and error than he'd care to admit that it was one of several things that she enjoyed during their now non-hostile time together. Just as Drew had predicted, she lightly moaned in pleasure at the touch. And just as he was starting to predict accurately, the strange feeling in his chest bubbled with her noises.

Drew had thought a lot about this strange blob in his chest, trying to dissect just what it might be ever since it started up a few months ago, just before himself and Kimberly had, as the sidekick would have put it, upgraded their relationship. There was a pattern to it, one that he was starting to carefully map out with the same analytical precision that he gave any project that he worked on.

It was agitated whenever he was around Kimberly, or thought about her. Whenever he thought about their shared past, it was a mixture of warmth, some kind of painful prickles that he thought might be guilt, and a pinch of the familiar emotion of frustration. That made it even _more_ frustrating; he knew it was a new feeling, but the fact that it changed how he felt about past feelings completely threw him for a loop!

She shifted against him on his oversized couch, tucking her head into his shoulder more as the bland whatever movie played. Drew was pretty sure the film involved some kind of time-traveling letter and a mailbox with a wormhole or something. It was rather hard to pay attention to it with him thinking as hard as he was. His attention was eaten even more as some of her hair brushed against his face, causing the blob to quiver with a delight that made him almost shiver.

It felt squishy. Squishy and warm. He had faint inklings of something that resembled this, back when he was a still-awkward and hopeful teenager. It also somewhat resembled the feeling he got when he occasionally witnessed his mother spout off on how proud she was of him. Not quite that feeling, though. If he thought really hard about it, he remembered feeling a ghost of this feeling back when Shego was with him, before she—

He cut that thought off, instead trying to focus on the feeling in his chest, trying to forget the pain from before. It was quickly accomplished with a glance to his left, where Kimberly was curled up against him. He must have started to tense up as he felt his body begin to relax. The redhead had turned her head to give him a querying glance, letting him know that she had noticed. He answered with a frustrated grunt.

"Not enjoying the movie?" she asked, sitting up a little to look at him. Kimberly sounded like she was teasing, though to Drew's knowing ear he could hear the whisper of concern in the words. He knew it was because he had, for a reason he still had no explanation for that _must_ be connected to the feeling, let her pick the movie for tonight. Because she'd had a bad day involving some old high school evil prep gone supervillain.

Normally he didn't care about anyone's day but his own, especially before he joined the goody-goods. But the way she'd been acting, the things she'd said—frustration, anger, a tremor in her tone that betrayed something a bit more—had triggered something in his brain and chest. He'd felt...it wasn't anger, not really, but it was something related to that and the bubbly feeling mixed with a touch of concern. For her, again, not him. And so he let her pick a movie even though he hated most of the movies she picked out.

He knew this was out of character for him, and he knew she knew it was out of character for him. Even then, they both continued on as if it wasn't out of the ordinary, as if there wasn't something weird about him doing that. But now here she was, trying to hide her own worry about her day to give him the option to go back to the norm and be his usual selfish self.

A chill went through him at that thought, the cold settling in his stomach under the warmth as he considered his usual selfish self.

"I'm...er...just thinking. Hard. About stuff," he heard himself answer as he began to pout a little. The pouting helped him to ignore the little voice in his head saying that yes, they should change this terrible movie and put in one of the good, even-numbered Space Passage movies.

"Would you like to share with the rest of the class?" Kimberly straightened up more, giving him a lopsided look that told him that she was starting to get irritated. Probably because the last time he thought hard like this he ended up blowing up half a city block.

On accident, of course.

"Nnnnngh… I—it—it's personal." Her eyebrow raised a bit more, reminding him faintly of Shego for a moment before he dismissed it as ludicrous. In a rare moment of clarity, he continued, "I'm not comfortable talking about it. It's…er…" He trailed off as a flash of what he was pretty sure was hurt crossed her face.

The warm feeling suddenly felt like a knife going through the center of him.

Desperately scrabbling to think of what he could say to take that horrible expression off of her face, to remove the dagger from his chest, he hurriedly said, "I don't have it all the way figured out. I, I just...nnnngh… I—I DON'T UNDERSTAND MYSELF SOMETIMES!" Finished far louder and angrier than he'd intended. And the arm-waving and hair-tearing was certainly not necessary. It wasn't his fault; SHE was the one asking him about something that he still didn't have figured out! Yet he still felt—

Her expression shifted to one of confusion and something else. Drew didn't have time to analyze it, though, as she quickly shook her head and said in what he was pretty sure was some kind of fondness, "Drew, I'm sure that whatever it is you're thinking of will be easier to figure out the less you think about it." He raised his own eyebrow at that. "Have you ever had a puzzle that you just couldn't figure out no matter how hard you tried or thought about it?" Drew nodded tentatively, thinking back to the tangled puzzle that had been his Diablo plot. "How did you solve it?" This was something he would never, ever, _ever_ tell Kimberly about; his plot only came together once he'd finally decided to listen to the inane ramblings of the buf—er, sidekick, and take things slower and easier. Things just fell into place after that. Probably should have kept that bit of advice and followed it to the letter.

"I, uh, stopped trying so hard?" It sounded lame to his ears, but Kimberly seemed to think it was the right answer if her nod said anything. He paused for a moment before raising his finger in protest. His words were stopped short when she looked up at the screen in some surprise before she almost forcibly curled up in his lap and looked up at the screen.

"My favorite part's coming up," she answered the unasked question. Drew paused again before letting his face settle into an annoyed scowl, crossing his arms over his chest and resuming his pout.

"You know, for a twenty-something know-it-all, you certainly seem to act like...well...you know it all," he grumbled. Feeling it needed some clarification, he gruffly added, "What I mean is that you sound like a wisened old mother or something."

"Good! My mother is the wisest person I know, and the more I sound like her the more I must be maturing," she countered playfully.

He felt like he should be annoyed at that. If he was acting like his usual self, he would shove her off and slide over to the end of the couch. It was an annoying retort that he didn't have anything for.

To his surprise, Drew realized he didn't want to do anything like that and, more importantly, didn't _feel_ like that. He didn't want to be and wasn't annoyed; instead he allowed himself a harrumph before letting his arms settle on her back as he considered her advice.

Stop trying so hard? It seemed ludicrous to him. The best way to figure out how anything worked was to take it apart and examine the parts. He thought about that for a second and dismissed the assertion. It wasn't always the best way to figure out how something worked. Sometimes you needed to watch parts working together to really know how something worked, like a clock.

So…he should try to examine the bigger picture. See how the parts all work together. Okay then. Drew could do that. The bigger picture. He tried to relax more, letting his scowl fall from his face as he considered what the 'bigger picture' concerning this feeling even _was_.

There was the feeling. There were things that influenced the feeling. The feeling changed some of his thinking. He was doing things that he would have never done before, such as the movie and not getting upset at getting mocked. No, not mocked. She was teasing him…

Wait.

His forehead crinkled as he examined that correction. How did he know she was teasing him? Why didn't it feel like she was mocking him anymore? Everyone mocked, laughed at, or was sarcastic at him, always. Harsh laughs, vicious smirks, and hurtful scoffing were all he heard when it came to 'joking' related to him.

...When was the last time Kimberly had done any of those? She never really truly harshly laughed at him, but she had certainly thrown her share of smirks and scoffs at him. As far as he could remember in the last couple of years, though, there hadn't really been any sort of mocking, hurtful words from her, or even their shared acquaintances. In fact, when she or they laughed with him around, it was rather...nice. He didn't feel like a target; if anything, he felt like an actual member of a group, enjoying something together with her and their mutual acquaintances.

Was this what it was like to be part of a group? He'd never considered it before. When he had been with his posse, it was more for the convenience of being in a large group that discouraged bullies. The one time he tried to do something generous using his prodigious talents and limited resources, they had mocked him into isolation for over a decade. If he were to ever do that now with his acquaintances and Kimberly, at least one of them would try to track him down and check on him within a week at the most. ...And vice-versa.

It was then Drew realized that he and his posse had never been friends. Even more shocking, he realized that the people that he continuously called acquaintances were actually _friends_. And to put the shockingly tart cherry on top of it, he finally noticed that he repeatedly separated Kimberly from their shared group of acqu— _friends_. She was a friend, no doubt about that, but there was something... _more_...there, beyond friend. She was his girlfriend, but that still had the word friend in it! What was there beyond girlfriend that wasn't married?

Mar...ry…?

SNK!

Syntax Error Code 1337-101.

Drew has stopped responding to input commands. Reboot? Y/N

...

A hand slid through his field of vision, snapping him out of his sudden blue screen.

"Drew…?" Kimberly trailed off. He looked at her owlishly, now noticing that the movie had finished. She was standing in front of him, concern etched on every corner of her face. "Are you okay? You just...you froze up. I was trying to ask you if you even caught the end of the movie." She bit her lip for a second before asking in a sterner tone, "You aren't trying to mentally map out a 5th dimensional object again, are you? I don't think I need to remind you about what happened last time…"

She didn't. It had been embarrassing enough to have Dementor of all people talk him down at that physics convention with his sudden maddened ranting about Atlantis being hidden in an ultradimensional space.

"I'm fine," his voice said in a manner reminiscent of the time he had gotten slammed into the side of that mountain during his concentrated mind control formula scheme. Traces of frustration flitted through his head, driving him to suddenly smack himself across the face. He cried out in pain, his mind more solidly taking hold of his body, before answering more strongly, "I'm fine!"

She had backed up a step. Kimberly tilted her head and asked, "Are you sure?" The doubt in her voice and the sudden tension from his slap made him even more frustrated.

"Yes I'm fine! And I'm not mapping out any fifth dimensional objects! I'm just, erm, having very…heavy thoughts, dog."

His hip-hop words were unintentionally added, but they served to break the tension as Kimberly repeated his last word. "Dog? Trying to string together another rap?" More teasing, something which he suddenly decided to play along with.

"No! The bu—uddy, Ron, beat me last time." He chuckled. "Why even try to compete with something that was so superior to my own work? What was the tune…? Na na na nanana na nanana?"

Kimberly looked...surprised?...before giving him one of the biggest smiles he could ever remember her ever giving him. His chest swelled with warmth. "Something like that. Ron certainly did _something_ with that. Not sure I would call it 'superior'." She walked over to the wall where the rock was opened up to reveal his hidden movie collection, some of which were actually her movies added a few at a time. "What did you want to watch next?"

"Next?" This confused him. They always watched one movie and only one. With their busy schedules, it was hard enough to manage to get private time together. On top of that, even with his hovercar it took a full three hours to drive her back to the campus of her school. If they watched another movie, she wouldn't be able to get back in time to do any meaningful studying that weekend. Wondering if she might have forgotten about how late it was, he inquired, "Kimberly, need I remind you of the time?"

"I know what time it is." She continued to browse the movies, apparently forgetting that she offered to let him pick.

"Then you _know_ that there isn't time—"

"I want to stay the night."

The following silence was loud enough to nearly make Drew deaf.

"You…?" he trailed off hesitantly.

"Surprised?" She grabbed a movie from the shelf and walked back over.

"You-you-you didn't even—how can I—I don't have anything ready!" His mind began panicking, thinking on all of the things that he didn't do that might make her upset. The bathroom still had his pajamas all over the floor! The fridge was mostly empty; how could she have a late-night snack with nothing in there?! The guest room sheets hadn't been washed for at least a week, and he bet that it was horribly dusty in there!

"Guest room?" Kimberly's brow furrowed in confusion as he suddenly realized that he'd shouted—not said, _shouted_ —all of his worries at her. "Drew, why do you think I would stay in the guest room…? Unless…" She suddenly looked uncertain, ducking her shoulders and looking away. "Yeah, I guess I did spring this on you. I can understand not wanting to move that fast." The next part was muttered, but he managed to hear her clearly all the same. "Sleeping in the same bed is a big step…"

Same...bed…? Suddenly, Drew felt like he was about to shut out a _good_ big step in a direction that might lead to even better things. He did entertain the thought that it was too fast, but the rest of him squished it flat. It wasn't like he was a good judge for relationship stuff! Kimberly clearly thought that they had reached a good point in their relationship to do, erm, shared sleeping. Together. Sleeping.

Kimberly had turned to put the video back on the shelf. He wasn't about to let this slip away. Just as she was lifting it up to slip it into its spot, she found it snatched from her grip by a leafy tendril. She looked back to Drew, watching him as he took the video from its grip and looked at it.

"Space Passage II: The Fury of Jaan?" He looked at her, surprised once again at her knowledge of Space Passage films. "You have actual good taste in Space Passage movies!"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't really my choice. Know everything about the show; _hate_ everything about it, too."

To his chagrin, he gave her a questioning eyebrow.

"My dad...it's a long story," she said, shaking her head. "Anyway…" Her head ducked again; she looked up at him through her short curtain of hair. "You…you want to watch that?"

"Well _duh_!" Drew said with some force. A little too much force he realized when she had a flash of a challenge in her gaze. Backpedaling, he continued, "Er, I mean, well, you, erm, clearly have more experience than I do. With people. And relationsh—nnnnngh, together stuff. If…" He had to look away at this part, the flutter in his chest letting him know that if she changed her mind, it wouldn't be silent on the matter. "If you think we can…do something like sleeping together to sleep…" His face felt hot, but the rest of him was cold. Was he getting sick?

He was torn from the beginnings of his health musings by hands lifting his face up. The thoughts were quickly lost when soft, gentle lips met his, drawing him into a chest-melting, head-spinning kiss. To his great regret, she broke the kiss only a few seconds later and rested her forehead against his.

"I would _love_ to spend the night here with you," Kimberly answered. His chest flipped strangely at something she had said or the way she'd said it, but he became far more distracted by the blob in his chest coming to life and bursting through his veins like their blond friend charging toward a nearby Bueno Nacho.

The feeling was still a mystery to him. Drew couldn't say for certain what it was, not now anyway. Whatever it was, all parts of him agreed that it was _good_. He wanted to feel more of it, especially when it blurbled into the rest of him like some kind of stream and made everything tingle with hints of pleasure and fulfillment.

Fulfillment? Oh, that's another part that he just identified! The rare, filling feeling that came from doing something meaningful. Only part of it, but another piece to the puzzle was a good thing. Thinking less intensely on it actually seemed to be working. He was certain that if he could get all the clues together and figure out what it was, there would be some kind of turning point for him.

He would figure it out eventually. For now, he would just enjoy the night with his girlfriend.


	2. Her POV

Nine years, seven months, a few weeks, and a couple days. That was how long Kim had known Drew, formerly Drakken, and his former sidekick Shego. No, wait, that wasn't right. Kim had known Drew that long, but Shego had jumped ship the second she wavered in her faith in what Drakken and her had. It really was a shame.

For Shego.

After all, if she'd stuck with Drakken, he'd still be Drakken. The last time he'd referred to himself as Drakken was the last day that either of them had seen her. The wedding day…

Kim didn't want to think about that. That day was hard on everyone, especially Drew, and she didn't want that to mar their date night. Yes, he had decided to become Drew, but she felt that wasn't _really_ the day that he started to become who he really should have been.

That day would have been the one where he enrolled back into school as Drew T P Lipsky. Unfortunate middle initials aside, it was at that point that Kim really felt that he was going to try and be a better person. She didn't really expect to run into him much after that. Different people, different hobbies, different generations; everything was stacked against the odds since the hero/villain dynamic was gone. And then he and Ron started a gaming group for the tri-city area which drew them together again.

She'd minded at first. She hadn't wanted to hang around with someone that...well...old, whiny, and needy on the few days she was in town visiting. The more she was around Drew, though, the more she realized that she actually didn't know him that well at all. He wasn't usually as whiny and ridiculous as he seemed to her. Oh, he whined on occasion, but not to the extent that was a common experience for her.

He was a lot smarter than she thought, too. She didn't really think about it because he was so insane and goofy; his quick acquisition of a bachelor's, then a master's, and then even a PhD not even 6 months after the master's disabused her of the idea that he was a failure with technology. It had never occurred to her before that, but for most people it is impossible for them to even conceive of the mechanics behind a magmachine or a truth ray. She really should have thought that something was up with the truth ray part when Wade was the only one who actually believed her and recognized what it was. The only issue that seemed the be holding Drew back years before was being ahead of his time. Somehow. It made her wonder about what Dementor could do if he went fully straight instead of his somewhat crooked business dealings...

Besides the changed perspective on his intelligence, she was also startled at how emotionally stunted he was, especially considering that he was so emotive. Apparently his emotions, while displayed on his sleeve, were shallower than even Bonnie was. That was impressive in a disturbing way.

...She shouldn't think about Bonnie.

Anyway, she had become intrigued by this man who was far, far different from the villain she thought he was. Kim supposed that it was the sudden mystery that made her curious. Stupid, yes, but it was a definite draw.

It also helped that he was similar enough to Ron that he was a kind-of substitute for when Ron became the Grand Ultimate Supreme Whatever for the Lorwardian Empire.

' _No, if you were using him as a substitute for Ron, you wouldn't still be friends with him. Besides, that's something Bonnie would do, and you're not Bonnie...'_

It wasn't only that stupid fight they had that contributed to their break-up. It would've been the dumbest thing to break up over. Combined with the sudden long distance that came with being the one chance of a peaceful existence between two completely different cultures…Ron couldn't handle it. At least, that was the only way she could figure that he would accept something like the Lorwardian ambassador's offer. The break-up was a mutual decision for them to downgrade the relationship.

' _That's what you tell yourself, anyway_.'

It was okay though. They were still friends. They could still talk (mostly) whenever with those long-distance hologram things. Things were just fine with Ron.

' _Things aren't fine with Ron. He hasn't been comfortable around you since you two said all those horrible things to each other_.'

He was as easy to read as always.

Drew, though…Kim finally understood a bit about why he was so obsessed with wanting to conquer the world. It was easy to get respect when you forced it on people, or so Drew had thought. It wasn't hard to piece together his past, but how that related to how he thought took a few psychology classes and some inferences. He honestly seemed to believe that literally everyone was laughing at him behind his back, that every comment was a veiled insult or slight.

She was now coaching him a little, trying to show him that not everyone thinks he's a joke. It was an uphill battle; now she regretted all those times she trash talked him. Kim hoped that small teasing, the kind that would elicit chuckles from most people, would be the key. No luck though. She would keep trying at least.

' _It is absolutely adorable watching him splutter in confusion. There must be some kind of progress since he isn't sneering as much, huh?_ '

If only her dad had been a better friend. Then again, if he had been a better friend she was pretty sure he would've ended up as a kind of adopted uncle. That would have made their current sitch completely awkward. She could just imagine the kind of snotty remarks she would have gotten if she'd fallen for her adoptive uncle. 'I didn't realize incest ran in the family, K! What's next, you and your brothers getting nasty behind the bleachers?'

Agh! There was Bonnie again. Why wouldn't she stay out of her head?

Maybe because she was obsessing over her being a lame villain.

' _Maybe because she's a stupid tra_ —'

She growled a little as she shut the voice down and decided to focus her thoughts on little miss 'Queen B' and let her body go on automatic with eating, something that would definitely work since they were having a quiet pre-meal dinner anyway. She needed the rant, if only to get it out of her system.

What kind of ridiculous villain name is that? And her 'power' is money to get goons to fight for her? Kim would have laughed at the entire thing...if it hadn't worked. Bonnie had thrown so many henchs at her that by the time she had cleared them all BonBon had gotten away with her prize. The redhead was sure that Senior was _so_ proud. And her banter...

"...don't even get me _started_ on her banter! 'Gee K, I didn't realize that you're such a huge loser that you got dumped by the ultimate high school loser. Guess this is why you lost homecoming, huh?'? Yeah, like _that's_ original," Kim griped as she stirred the vegetables around on her plate. "What kind of villain uses childish taunts like that? How old is she? Twelve?"

"She would probably be within a year of your age, considering you went to school together," Drew interjected into her thoughts as he sat on the couch fiddling with a small doohicky in his hands. His vines held his own meal on a plate, occasionally presenting portions of it to him for consumption.

"That doesn't matter!" she snapped. Her attention was brought to focus as he flinched away from her, his fingers fiddling with themselves nervously over the device as the vines wobbled uncertainly at the outburst. Forcing herself to calm down, she continued, "That doesn't matter. What matters is that she _got away_. My first solo mission as a junior GJ operative—against a basic high school evil, no less—and I failed!" Kim added bitterly, stabbing a shoot of celery with more force than necessary, "To top it all off, I got a B- on my midterm."

"A B- is still a good grade…" he muttered, looking away while crossing his arms grumpily, the little machine clacking a bit as it was manhandled and the vines resuming their task of feeding their host.

"It's a _decent_ grade, but it's not good enough."

"For _what_?" he groused between bites. Swallowing the last of his meal, he continued, "You're already going to be the Director of Global Justice. I don't think they're going to care about if you only got a B- on a stupi—"

" _ **I**_ care, dammit!"

She winced as soon as she finished speaking, even before Drew had reacted. Her action seemed to have given him pause, which she was thankful for, as it gave her time to think. She hadn't meant to yell, let alone unload a curse upon him. She wasn't even sure why she was so frustrated either; he was right after all.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then gave her head a little shake, a minor version of a habit Drew used to have during his days of villainy. Letting out a sigh, she gave a wan smile. "Sorry for snapping like that, Drew, but I care...maybe a little too much?"

He swallowed, and gave a small shrug, giving a fifty-fifty gesture before going back twiddling with the device in his hands. Her smile became more warm as he got lost in his own thoughts, which allowed her to go back into hers.

Doctor Director had made it clear that Kim going through the agent program was only for tradition's sake. She'd also told Kim to take it easier, to relax a bit, take time to enjoy life. And she'd tried, she honestly had. Frankly, she could drop out of college and just dedicate herself full-time to GJ, and still be leaps and bounds ahead of most of the agency's field agents! But... There was always that one _niggling_ little voice in the back of her head that she _had_ to do everything. She needed to be the best, to be capable of doing it all simply because she _could_ do anything.

This contradiction with her whole 'basic average girl' schtick was obviously the reason for her frustrations, even if she didn't understand why it bothered her so much. The problem was that she had no solution. Even so, that gave her _no_ right to yell at Drew like that. He didn't know or understand her driving need, and if Kim had any say in it he wouldn't have to.

' _You know, if you were more willing to open up you wouldn't have to neurotically toss aside oogling time for when Drew's doing his multitasking. Just_ imagine _how much he could do with tho—_ '

This was supposed to be date night. A night to just lay around and watch movies while enjoying being together. Sure, it was in his old island lair that was now just a really big laboratory/home, but it was somehow slowly becoming _their_ really big laboratory/home.

Kim turned her head to look at, expecting Drew to be nose-deep in his little device. To her mild confusion, Drew wasn't even looking at it. In fact, he was looking right into space. Contemplative. Brow furrowed, eyes unfocused, mouth motoring with unspoken words. A bit odd, but his mind tended to wander like that sometimes.

"So then, what would you like to watch?" she asked, trying to swallow her frustrations with her last bite of food and add some normalcy to the night.

"I…" Drew looked up from his empty plate, eyes suddenly sharp. He said very deliberately, "I want you to pick the movie."

Kim blinked slowly as she wiped her mouth. She put her soiled napkin on the plate before reminding, "It's your turn to pick the movie tonight."

"I know that!" he said, slightly offended. "Of course I know it's my turn! But…" He looked around, uncertain and strangely confused. "I...I just think that you… I, er, want you to pick."

She didn't understand. Drew relished the chance to force science fiction schlock on her. It didn't make sense that he would offer this sort of thing up. Kim could see her dad doing that, or maybe even Ron when they were still together. But Drew…he just...didn't _do_ this sort of thing.

"Are you sur—"

"Just pick the movie already!" he growled frustratedly, jumping off of the couch and stomping off toward the main lab area, their plates suddenly in his vines. She hadn't even noticed them grab her plate from her hands. "I'll be making popcorn or something until you do."

...Except now he apparently did.

Kim considered not picking a movie and just waiting for him to come back. There was no way that he actually wanted to watch one of her movies. He was always complaining about how they were whiny and overly sappy. Like Drew had a foot to stand on what with his love of soap operas.

Then again, he sounded like he was going to be stubborn about it. The last time she pushed on an issue he insisted on in a similar manner to this he ended up cooking a 26 course meal that neither of them could manage to even eat a quarter of. It did turn out pretty well for their extended families, though, as the two of them split the remains and distributed them among their families. They couldn't share it all together to Kim's minor regret due to herself and Drew keeping their relationship a secret. For now, at least.

' _Well_ ' she thought, walking over to the wall, ' _if I have to pick which option would be better for right now…_ ' She poked a generic-looking rock in the wall, the hidden button instantly causing the rock face to pull back to reveal their movie collection in a recess inside the wall.

The Pond Hut sounded good.

* * *

When Drew finally came back—sans popcorn or his little device, she noticed—he flopped down on the couch with a huff. By that point she'd already set up the big screen and the video player; all that was left was to push play.

Things were set up as they normally would. Kim still felt a little put out by his building strangeness, though.

' _It's a good strangeness; isn't it like what you wanted?_ '

"I picked a movie," she said awkwardly with a light chuckle, unsure of what to do.

"Good!" He flopped down on the couch with a harrumph. After a few seconds, he tilted his eyebrow at her. "Well? What are you waiting for? You might as well start it."

"Right." Kim felt strangely stupid as she pushed play and walked back over to the couch. But who wouldn't be put out when a well-oiled, functioning cog suddenly decided to turn in the opposite direction? In a more sane direction? In the direction that actually meant progress?

' _You're thinking too much. You should just relax and enjoy tonight. Laying on Drew's lap._ '

She was just overthinking this. She...she should relax. Laying her head in Drew's lap sounded good. At least he wasn't squirmish about physical contact with those he felt close to.

Kim let herself fall onto the couch next to him as the movie started playing. Before she could lay down on him, his arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her close, giving her a solid spot on the prime territory of his upper chest. And he was...stroking her arm…? He was acting so weird, so...protective. It made her think of when Ron had saved her from Warmonga and Warhok.

She managed to hold back a snigger at the thought of Drew blasting Bonnie in the face with a deathray.

That was probably just her head, thinking that just because he was being courteous it meant that he was finally relaxing around her, realizing that she really did love and admire him for being him. She doubted that he even realized he was doing these things. It was all automatic.

' _Like his movie choice?_ '

Ignoring the little voice that kept niggling at all the little thoughts she preferred to think on when she was alone, Kim tried to relax. It wasn't all that hard. Drew provided a very comfortable spot to lay on. His thigh was nice and firm under her arm. And his chest made for a nice, supportive pillow for her head. It felt...really good…

Kim was jolted from her fuzzy enjoyment of her position by her partner suddenly tensing up. To her surprise, she found that she had actually started dozing before his distress woke her. Just as quickly as it had started, though, he began to relax. She suspected it was forced for her sake which was part of why she turned her head to look up at him. He answered her curiosity with a grunt.

"Not enjoying the movie?" she asked, hoping that that was the cause of his distress. It wasn't fair for her to keep it going; she wasn't actually watching the movie like he thought she was. It would have been perfectly fine and reasonable for him to want the movie changed.

"I'm...er...just thinking. Hard. About stuff." Ah. Not a movie change. For some reason, that irritated her.

"Would you like to share with the rest of the class?" She straightened up more, giving him an interrogative stare.

"Nnnnngh… I—it—it's personal." Even as she thought about how it was his own personal thing, that he wasn't planning to actually build a deathray and blast Bonnie in the face, she felt her eyebrow raise up, ushering him to continue explaining. To her shame, she realized that her irritation stemmed from the fact that he _wasn't_ being selfish, that he was actually apparently trying to be considerate, to make her feel better with a movie. That he was finally changing his behavior to be less defensive. "I'm not comfortable talking about it. It's…er…"

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts as he suddenly began speaking loudly, then shouting, "I don't have it all the way figured out. I, I just...nnnngh… I—I DON'T UNDERSTAND MYSELF SOMETIMES!" The arm-waving and hair-tearing was certainly a good accent to show off his mounting frustrations.

Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, she shook her head while outwardly smiling. He was probably trying to figure out one of his physics things for a project.

' _He said 'himself', not 'my thing'._ '

Kim ignored the voice and advised, her mind pulling on advice her mother had given her, "Drew, I'm sure that whatever it is you're thinking of will be easier to figure out the less you think about it." He raised his own eyebrow at that. "Have you ever had a puzzle that you just couldn't figure out no matter how hard you tried or thought about it?" Drew nodded tentatively at that. "How did you solve it?"

"I, uh, stopped trying so hard?" he answered lamely, clearly not believing it. A quick nod of approval, though, clearly changed his mind.

Suddenly Kim sensed a looming multilayered wall of logical fallacy approaching when his finger raised into the air and did the only thing she could think to try and dodge it: she looked up at the screen showing the forgotten movie, feigning surprise, and dove into Drew's lap.

"My favorite part's coming up," she said to cut off any more discussion. In truth, her favorite part had actually happened a quarter of the movie earlier when the first letter arrived, but he didn't need to know that. She could hear him grumble and felt him shift in annoyance.

"You know, for a twenty-something know-it-all, you certainly seem to act like...well...you know it all," he said with a pout. Drew added more flatly, "What I mean is that you sound like a wisened old mother or something."

"Good! My mother is the wisest person I know, and the more I sound like her the more I must be maturing," Kim replied with some humor. Not that he would probably catch it.

She then forced herself to focus solely on the movie. Drew was dealing with a personal issue, or a physics issue. Just some kind of issue that he could figure out on his own. And she very much did not pay any more attention to his nicely solid thighs or the light touches he was giving her back.

' _Liar_.'

The end of the movie came sooner than Kim would have liked. It was finally starting to feel cozy again, to feel not-awkward. She didn't feel ready to go.

But the movie was over. That was a clear indicator that it was getting late. With her failing grades, it was important that she get back to campus to start studying as soon as she could. Kim got up and pulled the movie out of the playing device, putting it in its case and slipping it back on the shelf. Amused at Drew's silence at the ending, she asked with a chuckle, "Did you sleep through the end of the movie or something? You haven't complained even on—" That was when she noticed that he had apparently fallen asleep.

Stepping closer, she realized that he hadn't fallen asleep. Instead, it seemed that he'd managed to overheat his mind again. He was staring off into space unblinkingly, drool threatening to escape his gawking mouth. How she failed to notice his mental BSoD was beyond her.

"Drew?" she queried quietly.

No reaction.

She waved a hand in front of his face and asked again, "Drew…?"

He looked at her with wide, confused eyes. "Are you okay? You just...you froze up. I was trying to ask you if you even caught the end of the movie." She bit her lip for a second before asking in a sterner tone, "You aren't trying to mentally map out a 5th dimensional object again, are you? I don't think I need to remind you about what happened last time…"

"I'm fine," he said, his voice conveying that he clearly was _not_ fine. He then suddenly smacked himself across the face, making Kim jump back in surprise. He cried out in pain before answering more strongly, "I'm fine!"

Kim tilted her head and tentatively asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm fine! And I'm not mapping out any fifth dimensional objects! I'm just, erm, having very...heavy thoughts, dog."

"Dog? Trying to string together another rap?" she teased. He looked strangely thoughtful at that. Probably trying to pick apart what about it was insulting.

She was about to change topic and make note of the time when he replied, "No! The bu—-uddy, Ron, beat me last time." He paused to chuckle before continuing. "Why even try to compete with something that was so superior to my own work? What was the tune…? Na na na nanana na nanana?"

Kim's face fell into a slack-jawed stare of shock. Did he just…? Was that…? Did he just...try to tease her back…?

' _YES!'_ she thought as she smiled brightly at Drew. Finally! After the months of work trying to loosen him up, to get him to realize that she wasn't making fun of him, he finally, _finally_ got it! She couldn't let this go. She couldn't!

"Something like that," Kim answered, a quick plan forming in her head. "Ron certainly did _something_ with that. Not sure I would call it 'superior'." Another movie. She walked over to the wall where the movie collection sat in the recess. They could watch another movie of his choice, relax more and just enjoy each other's company for longer.

' _Why not watch it in bed?_ ' The thought from that weird little voice was a strange and completely random one, and to her chagrin she imagined what it would be like. She'd managed to get a few glimpses of it from the times when Drew had, of course, forgotten something like shoes or a tie for more formal events. The moat was weird, but that headboard was pretty cool. Not sure she would've wanted such a big tv hanging over her like that. And that bed…well, it was garish, but it was also big enough for four or five people. ' _Lots of room for a newbie couple to get used to something like cuddling in_.'

Clearly the voice was skirting around the gutter.

"Next?" he squeaked in confusion. Oh, good. She'd actually said something. Kim had been worried for a moment that she was just standing there like a loon staring at the various movies they had available to watch. "Kimberly, need I remind you of the time?"

"I know what time it is," she replied confidently. In truth, she'd forgotten momentarily, but once he reminded her the answers to that and the upcoming questions were obvious. What kind of movie would Drew want to watch? Probably one of the good Space Passage ones, or a Professor What-Now? finale. Best to just stick with Space Passage.

"Then you _know_ that there isn't time—"

"I want to stay the night."

The awkward silence that followed was not comforting.

"You…?" he trailed off, apparently confused.

"Surprised?" Kim grabbed the first even-numbered Space Passage film and walked back over, hoping that Drew didn't notice her smile was now fake, a small gnaw of worry that had begun to tear at the confidence she had at her spur-of-the-moment idea.

' _Calm down. He's probably just not sure how to respond._ '

"You-you-you didn't even—how can I—I don't have anything ready!" Drew practically yelled, his volume increasing with his panic. "The bathroom still had my pajamas all over the floor! The fridge is mostly empty; how could you have a late-night snack with nothing in there?! The guest room sheets haven't been washed for at least a week, and I bet that it's horribly dusty in there!"

"Guest room?" Kim eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Drew, why do you think I would stay in the guest room…? Unless…" A giant lump suddenly formed in the pit of her stomach as she realized what, exactly, she had been expecting from him and everything that she had been inferring. Swallowing her dismay, she managed to croak, "Yeah, I guess I did spring this on you. I can understand not wanting to move that fast." She turned back to the shelf with the movie, sighing to herself in disappointment, "Sleeping in the same bed is a big step…"

She had just started slipping the movie back onto the shelf when she found her hands abruptly empty, a flash of green alerting her to the culprit. Kim turned to look at Drew, watching as his vine deposited the movie she had into his waiting hands.

"Space Passage II: The Fury of Jaan?" He looked at her, clearly surprised. "You have actual good taste in Space Passage movies!"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't really my choice. Know everything about the show; _hate_ everything about it, too." She ignored the unintentional jab, wondering if he would ask about it. To her slight annoyance, he tilted his eyebrow at her curiously.

"My dad...it's a long story," she said, shaking her head and hoping to shove away any further annoyance at her dad's abuse of her memory problem. "Anyway…" She turned her head away, afraid that he was having her on, and asked, "You…you want to watch that?"

"Well _duh_!" Drew said with some force. After an unintentional glare from her, he nervously continued, "Er, I mean, well, you, erm, clearly have more experience than I do. With people. And relationsh—nnnnngh, together stuff. If…" He looked away, _abashed_! Since when was Drew ever embarrassed to this extent? "If you think we can… Do something like sleeping together to sleep…"

The little voice in her head tittered not only at his words, but the way he said them as well. ' _See? He actually want this! He's starting to really trust you. Do you think he would have acted like this, be this emotional, with_ Shego _? Don't worry about how he's feeling anymore, if he's opening up; it's clear that all that chipping away is working. Now all you have to do is enjoy it…go on and give him the best kiss you've got!_ '

This time she listened to it.

After a blinding, head-fogging kiss which, to her surprise, he gave as good as he got, she rested her dizzy head against his. "I would _love_ to spend the night here with you," she answered breathily, surprised that she'd never noticed before that he was so good at kissing, felt so good to lay on, was so nice to touch…

' _You should touch him more_.'

She chuckled a bit and gave him a peck on the cheek, the warmth giving her tingles, before she went to put the movie into the player. Kim would definitely touch him more. She wasn't really sure why the little voice in her head was so intent on her being close to him. Frankly, she didn't care. She did care about how much she enjoyed it and how much he was starting to clearly care about her own feelings.

Maybe she would get what that little voice's deal was eventually. For now, she would just enjoy the rest of the night with her boyfriend...and figure out where she would fit some studying in.


End file.
